Amy's got a gun..!

Bouncer - new injuries before the old ones could even heal.....!

For someone with a "masculine" name of Azmi, I was lucky enough to have a string of nicknames which are rather feminine! My parents call me "Miah" even though they would refer me to others as "Azmi". My siblings call me "Ami" /Kak "Ami". My nieces and nephews call me "Aunty Amy". This can be traced back to the early 70's/late 60's when I became an "aunty" for the first time ever and was trying to decide if I should be Mak Ngah or something else. Something else it was, as way back in the late 60's and early 70's, it was simply "groovy" to have a western version of your name. Just like our neigbours across the Malacca Straits. My friends call me any of the call names according to when they began to know me. Colleagues at work call me my real name. As a student in the UK, my lecturers called me "Ms Talib". They thought Azmi is my dad's name.

What a digression....in any case, today I got a gun. Yes, Amy's got a gun. A toy gun. No permit required. It cost me all of RM 19.99, as it was on offer at Toys R Us. No, cancer has not accelerated second childhood in me. It has just taught me to take stock of situations, no matter how insignificant it may seem to others, and do the necessary to resolve stressful ones so that these will not grate on my nerves. Stress is bad. If anything, try to resolve the source of stress or simply choose to just ignore it. If you can.

Remember Bouncer? He has learnt not to wander unnecessarily, incase he gets into another "bloody" brawl. The unfortunate thing is, his main "opponent", the huge yellow cat( hence we call him "Kuning") from the next road kept making an appearance at our front gate and into our garden. Once in our compound, Bouncer can't resist the impulse ( or instinct ) to chase him off. When that happens, si-Kuning would attack, and yes, I have a fight on my hands. Both cats have their balls intact ( not spayed), and hence the aggression towards each other. A territorial thing with Bouncer, a curiousity of sorts for Si-Kuning ( we still refer to him as Si-Kuning, even though his human owner call him "Warrior"). No wonder he is always cruising for a bruising!

Bouncer hasn't been spayed because he may not be able to take the GA ( general anasthetic) to enable the Vet to neuter him. Maybe that was the reason his previous owner hasn't done it for him. I am not sure what si-Kuning's reason is. I must find out from the owner, and try to persuade them to have him spayed. He is also collecting battle wounds on his otherwise fluffy yellow body.

When they fight, it is really fighting for their lives - really a wild catfight, grovelling all over the ground and generating loud, frightening sounds that can be heard along the whole street. When we tried to pull them apart, we got ourselves scratched. It would have been so easy to pry them apart with a long stick ( which I have) but they stuck to each other, biting ears and eyes, with loose fur flying all around. Not to mention the nervous pee-ing that occur at the same time. Their brawls really scared my other cats who are caged in their "multi-level" mobile cage in the garden.

I really shoudn't take sides, but si-Kuning really has no business being here attacking Bouncer. And as for Bouncer, he should have just "growled" and let si Kuning slink away quietly, but no, if si Kuning keeps on advancing, Bouncer goes for the attack! It must be the tiger(stripes) in him.

So what to do? I don't have the heart to hit them with my tennis racket ( that would have stopped the fight I figured)...one whack and smash...and they both get thrown against the garden wall. I have a garden hose but by the time I get to the hose and turn on the tap, it would have been a good 3-4 minutes of fight, too late to save scratches on both of the fighters! Si Kuning too suffers some bad cuts on his face, but he keeps coming for more!

But(excitedly) now I have a gun!!!. A toy gun no doubt. But, it is a "Power Blaster" no less, and can shoot a "powerful" jet of water up to 30 feet away. I tested it on the maid and she said it is "ticklish" where the jet of water hits her. I was hoping for "prickly" rather than ticklish, but I guess that will do. The gun is now filled with it's water ammunition, placed close to my main door. Just waiting for the next time si-Kuning makes an appearance. At the first signal of a growl from Bouncer, we would know that he is approaching our front gate.

And we would know what to do. Cats simply hate cold water. A simple jet of cold water will surely keep si-Kuning away,. This should save both him and Bouncer from more scratches and cuts. And peace at last for my other babies who will be trying to enjoy a bit of sun in their cage in the garden!